Working harder for less pay.........
Posted By: sm on 2009-09-23
In Reply to: Wrong. What counts is the figure on your paycheck. SM - MsIndigo
to achieve the same figure on one's paycheck is circular reasoning.
As has been stated before here, it is a pretty sure bet that the clients are being charged the same for their reports whether an MT physically transcribes it or whether a speech engine translates it and an MT cleans it up. That being the case, with the MT being paid even less for speech recognition, the middle man (management) is making way more money off the MTs back and will continue to make more as the MT is pushed to turn out more production.
As for adapting to more coming technilogical changes, you'd better prepare to adapt yourself to another line of work because the MT field will become obsolete as we know it even today. There will be fewer MT positions needed as speech recognition becomes more and more proficient at creating a medical document that is within acceptable limits.
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It's harder to get your own accounts
Most guys don't have a choice but to work for nationals in this business or own their own business. Would like some input into how guys work at making that much money in MT. Thanks.
I was doing VR, too. For me, the work is just harder to come by.
I work second shift, and it used to be early evening the OPs would start coming in. I could really roll on those, but they have all but disappeared. I now only get handful per shift and mostly EGDs or I&Ds. I also worked Fridays and Saturdays, which were great for work, but even those days are depleted now.
I think now I just am bummed out thinking I worked my butt off to get to the 5 to 6-year mark where I could apply with the better companies, and there just is no work. My daughter is almost done with her transcription course, and it is scary to me that she has to work for 3 cpl but even scarier that I might have to pretty soon :(
Seems like they are just making their job harder.
They should be taking the time to do the job correct the first time. How is rushing through going to help them in the long run? The reports are just going to come back for corrections, which is then going to take them longer to fix in the end then just editing them properly the first time through. I understand not wanting to get pay docked, but it seems they are only making things worse for themselves in the end.
Work Smarter, Not Harder...
Exactly! Go to work for a company that pays for ALL of your work, not just what is reflected in your typed reports. What about time spent looking up physicians out of a data base of 50,000! Trying to figure out what in God's name the doc is saying when pronouncing some foreigner's name, and wasting 10 minutes doing so...with no pay! ALL of my expertise is worth compensation, not just what they see on the final report. How many times do you type an entire report, just to hear at the end, Erase this, I'll redictate! No credit! What a waste of time and I deserve to be paid for the work I did, even though the DOCTOR screwed up and screwed me out of earning my pay for those lines! What a bunch of BS!!!
I must agree with you. Seems harder the older you get.sm
When I was in my 20s, sure I could do 1800+ a day, but it's a different story now that I'm in my 40s. Sore wrist and fingers. Forearms tight and painful.
IT SUCKS!!
PS: Chinamom, sorry, I didn't mean to reply by email. Clicked the wrong thing by mistake. I must be getting old!!
Yes, for some reason Bayscribe does seem harder (sm)
Harder to make your lines, that is. The only time that Bayscribe will not add demographics (or autopopulated info) to your character count is if you mark the report as a No Report. Otherwise, on all reports, including the ones marked Incomplete Report, it will count all the demographic info too.
They say that Bayscribe is Word-based, but personally, I haven't seen much simularity at all between Word and Bayscribe. I do know that when I switched from using Word to using the Bayscribe platform, my average lines-per-hour production dropped somewhere around 25%.
So yes, with Bayscribe, I do find myself working longer hours in order to make the same line counts that I used to make. I'm not really sure what the answer is, but I don't think that it's the accounts.
Sometimes the bigger they are, the harder they fall.
Lots of these big MTSO co's are in bed with AHDI, and I have a hunch the whole kit-n-kaboodle of 'em are ridin' for a fall. Or a public hangin'.
Even if some of them aren't harder to manipulate,
it's just assumed that they are. I've found that the few guys I worked with on-site in the past WERE fairly woman-like in their willingness to be manipulated and taken advantage of. Which is probably why they got into, and stuck with, MT in the first place. Those guys who won't stand for that sort of thing never got into MT at all. Which is probably about 99.999% of them.
The benefits to the MTSO for having at-home MTs is not only the savings of NOT having to run, maintain, insure, heat, cool, and clean a brick-and-mortar building for their workers, but more importantly, the physical and social ISOLATION of those workers by basically chaining them to their desks at home. The isolation makes it far easier for us to be lied to, intimidated, cheated and overworked because NO ONE ELSE SEES IT HAPPENING.
The internet, and forums like this one, have broken us out of that isolation to some degree, but obviously not enough of a degree for change to happen. It's likely that for every MT that knows of this, or other MT forums, there are 10 who don't.
Further compounding the trouble those of us who DO use online forums to communicate with each other have, is the fact that we all know the MTSO suits cruise these boards, and we have to be careful about what we say, and to not reveal our identities, or else we'd most likely find our little selves fired.
So to date, medical transcription, and the sweatshop conditions it's done under, is the healthcare industry's best-kept 'dirty little secret'.
Is it getting harder for anyone to get jobs now with all the people applying for them. How does
this seem to be going for most MTs looking for jobs. What seems to be the one factor that gets MTs a job before all the other 100 or so looking for the same job and what are the most desired qualities today that companies are looking for.
Anyone else going from DQS to ExText and noticing lines are harder to get? (sm)
Both accounts are about the same difficulty, just find ExText more cumbersome and where I used to do 1200 lines in 6 hours on DQS I now take every bit of 8 hours and sometimes that doesn't do it. Am i just getting slow to learn new things or has anyone else noticed this same thing?
Definitely harder and I've given it a lot of time. I'm thinking about
nm
You have it all wrong. I work SMARTER, not harder.
I will take on any acct. After months of getting used to it, I see what I am making an hour. If it is worth the work required to do that acct, great. If it isnt, I ask to be taken off acct and so far, have never been refused. Sometimes takes little while for them to get another MT for acct but have never been refused. Company is not working for the prestige, loyalty to an acct, or ME for that matter, or for the good of mankind. Why should I? I am in this for the money, just like the company. I am very much a pro, which is probably why companies would rather have me on another acct, than to quit giving me work all together. They know many companies are always looking for a good MT. Like other posters, I dont understand why someone would work below their worth. There are too many companies out there to try. I have tried several, staying with the ones where I could make good money.
Acute care is quite a bit harder than clinic.
Definitely. Never a good idea to lie. You won't find anyone at most big companies to ask beginner questions to, on ops or otherwise.
I, too, went from MQ to TT, and line counts are much harder to get at TT with Dictaphone ExText.
I have always been called *firey fingers*, so know it is not me, as I am very fast and accurate on the keyboard. Line count continually gets harder to achieve. I know it depends on how the company has Dictaphone set the line count parameters -- whether to pay headers, footers, spaces, demos, normals, expanders, etc.
Also speech recognition using ExSpeech at TT is so cumbersome and awful. Really made good money and line count with DQS speech editing. Just must my opinion. Other comments would be interesting.
The requirement is 50% participation. It is actually harder for a larger company sm
than a small company if they are national to get good rates. Once in, they will have it easy after that. I dealt with it personally for another company and it was a nightmare. Insurance is crazy and once national, it is harder to get the insurance. They should have gone with BC/BS when smaller but chose Unicare for some reason. Now they are regretting it.
Burnout...wanted to work smarter, not harder.
It seemed like I was sitting at my desk for 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, just trying to pull the bare minimum. I had to hop around from one hospitals operating system to another and to another constantly...and if you've ever had the pleasure of doing that, you know that lines don't come easy that way because you spend all your time waiting for things to load and what not. There just wasn't enough work to stay on one account all the time, the way I think it should be, so instead of becoming an angry and bitter employee, I left.
They really did try to make me happy, but all they could offer were more hours, or more accounts, and like I told them, I simply wanted to work my 8 hours and make a decent living. Had a really hard time doing that over the winter. I think they overhired but I never asked that question head on. It was a great company when they first started out, but then got really big really fast. Great benefits though, if you can make the lines.
If I needed to get my foot in the door, I'd work for them, get the experience, and move on. It's that kind of place. But during a moonlighting gig I tasted freedom, more money due to a more efficient way to work, and better overall work environment, surrounded by people who truly loved their jobs, and when I was happy to log on for THAT job, and got sick to my stomach when I had to log on at DVHP, well that's when I knew it was time to be on my way.
Sometimes you get spelling and abbrvns over the phone, typing later on. Bone up on your harder
s
It is much harder on the wrist to constanly use the mouse to jump around the report to edit, rather
x
I agree that it is an easy platform, but compared to other platforms I have used, lines are harder
to get, probably counted or weighted differently.
Ditto.. Over 13 years experience working in hospitals doing all types of reports, currently working
for a national etc.. and Spheris told me I didnt have the qualifications. What cracked me up was the hospital I was working at at the time contracted some of our work out to them.. What a joke..I was good enough to work for a hospital and gave them work, yet not qualified enough for them. What is wrong with this picture.
MQ same situation. No pay for working holidays, no pay for working weekends nothing. Now noone works
much anymore and so they jerk the work out of the accounts to some place that throws it back with a lot of bad bad quality. This is the NE region. I dont know what the others are doing.
Easy tests versus harder tests...
Having passed both and offered jobs at both, which company would you likely go for? They both have the same basic benefits and line rates. Would I be assuming that the harder testing will mean that the dictation is more difficult? Any opinions on this would be greatly appreciated!
You work longer AND harder and the work is
??
working from home is awesome but working for DSG is not...
horrible dictators, sound quality is bad, no answers to emails and they run out of work consistently...that is just my experience though...
So how is that working out for you?
x
Really? I'm working, too.
However, I'm working at the part-time job I was forced to get as soon as I figured out Transcend was screwing me. I have nearly 1,800 lines in so far today. How many do you have?
Are you still working for them? LOL
If you are, why don't you take your own advice -- leave. You're no victim except of yourself.
If you're not working for them, what's it to you? We're all adults.
Whether or not a company is "good" or "bad" (such juvenille generalizations, lol) is a matter of perspective and there are PLENTY of us who don't share your views.
Are you working for them now?
I just interviewed with them yesterday and have not heard back. Are you working for them now? How is that working out for you? Are you happy? Thanks
working
I, too have worked for other services. I think Transcend is excellent. You can make as much or as little as you want. I agree with you everyone is very nice and helpful and easy to talk to and most helpful. I have a different job at Transcend now and I think that very much, but I also transcribe whenever I get a chance.
are you still working for them?
x
I liked working for them but there
wasn't enough work on the 2 accounts that I was on to justify the fee for leasing the equip and I don't make enough yet to make purchases like dictaphone, lanier, etc. they always pay on time and CORRECTLY! if I ever purchase equipment like that I'll definitely be contacting them again.
And how would you know who is working and
I sure don't!
She could have another job and working before she would even
begin to qualify for unemployment. Why put herself through that anguish. She should resign and move on. She'd have a job in one day it is my guess. Unemployment should not even be an issue here. Most people can find jobs in this business very easily.
Who are you working for now? nm
nm
Yes, it's working now.
NM
I am not working for them anyway, so
PTS Dictation in Florida. They said that they only get 8 cpl, and that is why they only pay 6 cpl, and yes based upon a 65 character line. That is not my problem they don't get paid like they should. I don't work for anything less than 8 cpl.
Working for nothing
You must not be in desperate need for making any kind of money because that company paid me terrible! $4.25 per 1,000 words. I can make more money working at McDonald's flipping hamburgers!!
Not a good company to work for! Would not recommend it to anybody!
been working with them 5 yrs now - sm
owner is not very organized and was getting paid 15th and end of month but she has stretched it out to every 3 weeks now but accounts are SUPERB and once you get past the disorganization they pretty much leave you alone to work.
Oh like you are working....
If you have to keep replying obviously you are unemployed. I am not bashing anyone. You are a few others are the only ones calling people names. I never called you a name but you called me a loser. And I do think it is funny, no hilarious, because you so angry and frustrated? Do like the above poster said, take a pill!!
I don't know what you mean - it's working for me. nm
x
I have been working for them for 6----
months. They are very nice people. Pay is on time. Good communication. QA is excellent. I am happy with them. If you have any more questions you may email me.
Still, would be like working for nothing....
I like what I do for a living but not that much!
You must be one of the ones let go for not working??!!
I know we do have a few sour employees who chose not do complete their files within TAT and thought they could just keep going. So yes, i'm sure they are angry they got fired and they will be angry at the next company that fires them for the same thing. Sad, really!
For those working for OSI...
How do you like it? I am considering doing their mentoring program, but it says you have to commit to a year full time following mentoring training. What is their scheduling like? Is there always a weekend day included? Is it set hours every day? Is the pay pretty good? How about the accounts and platform?
I'm sure there is info out there on them, but trying to search this forum is frustrating. I don't want to see messages from two years ago!
Thanks to anyone who can shed some light so that I can see if this is a worthwhile investment to make (in having to commit to a year full time).
For anyone working for QED...sm
Would someone currently working for QED please e-mail me? TIA
not working
Are you working actively, i mean right now, at Transtech. I too have been there a while and they are an okay company but for the last 6 months or so the work has been little to nil and I am thinking about moving around but at this moment I really would not recommend them.
not working
I think MT should be pain for downtime because 9 times out of 10 you are still sitting at your computer waiting for jobs/work to come in so technically you are still on the job. Another thing is that I hear make up your lines and/or your time but in my opinion I think the employer should compensate the MTs some kind of way instead of expecting the MTs to make up time because as stated earlier the MT was sitting at the desk waiting for the work to come in but if its not there how can it be done. Over the last few months I have tried to look at it both ways because my company has had very little to no work coming through for me. I don't hold my employer accountable per se but I feel that my employer is not seeing it from both ends when I am told by my employer to make up your lines/time before the pay period is up because obviously the work is not there.
Myself - working for myself has been the best
        
Why not? I have been working for them
for a few months and they seem fine. Certainly not as sleazy as the Q, at least on the surface. What is wrong with SoftScript?
Working for...
Anyone out there working for ATSI out of Florida? If so, how do you like? Tell me a little about the job. Thanks.
If you think that's bad, try working there and getting someone to help you - LOL
nm
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